


Four Become Five

by Red Dragon (Red_Dragonn)



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Deities, Gen, Speculation, alternate universe - where the creation myth is what i fuckin want it to be, robots becoming robot gods, this is so fucking gratuitous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 03:02:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15621072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Dragonn/pseuds/Red%20Dragon
Summary: what if the Guiding Hand were less cohesive than we thought? What if they came one by one, after failed attempts to create a world led to the end over and over and over?the idea bit me and i liked it





	Four Become Five

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [the ways of the stars undone](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13732176) by [oriflamme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oriflamme/pseuds/oriflamme). 



> this is some self indulgent bullshit. directly inspired by oriflamme's work.

_ To which do you turn, the hammer or the sword? To create, to make anew...or to destroy? _

_ Does it matter? _

_ It always matters, and you know that as well as I do.  This world is ever turning; but I think that you should help to guide it’s motion.  _

_ Do I want to? _

_ You should. _

_ But I don’t think I will.  _

_ Then you will suffer for it.  _

_ Then I will suffer for it. _

_ And you accept that? _

_ If I must. _

\- The Story of the Unmaker

* * *

 

“I don’t want this,” he said softly. 

_ It is your responsibility. Take this, and do what must be done. _

“I don’t  _ know _ what must be done,” he said, and his voice was a soft, hoarse cry. He’d argued with [̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭ for hours. [̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭ didn’t change [[̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭’s mind. And he knew he couldn’t change [[̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭’s mind either.  

_ You are of the [Light], [̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭  _ said, [[̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭s voice echoing off the walls and thumming up through the floor as [[̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭s voice was wont to do.  _ Take this. Do what must be done. You will [know] it. _

“How?”

_ You are of the Light _ , [̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭ insisted. 

“How do you know?”

_ I [Know] because I am of the [Light], _ [̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭ insisted.  _ I [Know] you, as you know that I [Know] you. _

“I don’t understand.”

_ You don’t need to understand. You just [Know]. _

“Why do you keep saying that? I don’t  _ know.” _

_ You do [Know], [̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭  _ said, almost irritably. The soft, rumbling presence of [[̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭’s voice turned harsh and grating with the emotion; he flinched back and away instinctively. It was like teeth on his spark.

“I,” he said. “Fine. If i take it, and I apparently know what to do with it, what happens then?”

_ Everything _ , [̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭ said. 

“I don’t want that.”

_ Too bad. _

* * *

 

_ There’s a shadow just behind me _

_ Watching every step I take _

_ Making every promise empty _

_ Pointing every finger at me _

_-_ Tool (of Earth)

* * *

 

**[[Arise.]]**

Something unpleasant echoed in his processor. “What?”

**[[Arise. Get up.]]**

The voice was so thunderously loud, so unutterably silent, so incredibly... _ alien _ that it took him a moment to realize it was even a voice. 

“Riiight,” he said slowly, forcing himself to his knees, and then his pedes. It felt like there was something heavy sitting in his chest. Something else sitting in his head. Something that burned and shifted like a coil of razor wires. 

**[[You can go faster than that.]]**

“Are you like [̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭?”

**[[Don’t be ludicrous.]]**

“Um.”

**[[I am offended that you think I’m anything like that monstrosity.]]**

“Um?”

**[[** {“Um?”}  **what?]]**

“Sorry, I. Um. Can you. Stop?” 

**[[** _ (stop|end|cease|freeze|pause|halt|yield|break|close|drop|quit|prevent|avoid|impede)  _ **can you** **clarify?]]**

“The voice. With the voice. Can you stop. It hurts.”

**[[You are incomprehensible.]]**

“Right,” he said. “And you’re  _ hurting me _ .”

There was a shift in the dead-metal air of the burned atmosphere that had the distinctive, slightly disappointed quality of a sigh somehow. [[{Is this better?}]]

“Yes,” he said. “What are you?”

[[{I am what I am, and no more.}]]

“That means exactly nothing. Thanks!” he said sarcastically. “Incredibly, that doesn’t fill me with the greatest levels of confidence. What do you  _ want _ ?”

[[{What I always have, and no more.}]]

He sighed. “You’re being dense on purpose.”

[[{Of course I am. What more would you expect from an ancient deity of a dead world?}]]

“ _ Who _ are you?”

[[{That wasn’t even vaguely subtle. I’m unimpressed on your behalf.}]]

“I--”

[[{Clumsy.}  **Very** {clumsy. Try a little harder.}]]

He sighed. “Where did [̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭ go? I liked [̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭ better.”

**[[ [̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭ does not come near me or mine, and if [̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭ dares, I will shred its very essence and feed it back into the blistering inferno from whence it emerged.]]**

He rubbed at his temples with a sigh. “Guess the two of you have unfinished business, then?”

[[{ [̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭ is not something to joke about.}]]

“Uh...alright. What are you?”

[[{You already tried that one.}]]

“What am  _ I?” _

[[Oh, better. You’re a pawn that happened to become useful, and naturally, that’s a disaster.}]]

“What?”

[[{Didn’t you [Know]?}]]

“I don’t know shit, my dude,” he said, exhausted. 

[[{I’ve heard that one before.}]]

“What do I call you?”

[[{Oh,}  **finally** . {Good job. I am :Solumnus:.}]]

“I’ve never heard of you.”

[[{You have now.}]]

“I guess I have.”

* * *

 

_ Sometimes the shadow cast by where the light does not fall _

_ Is the only indication that there was light here at all _

\- Unknown

* * *

 

“So what do I do now?”

[[{I would tell you not to do anything}]], :Solumnus: said, voice dry. [[{There is nothing you could possibly do that would not make things worse.}]]

“Well that’s comforting.”

[[{That’s life.}]]

“You’re a hell of a pessimist.”

[[{Continued exposure to the worst-case scenario tends to train that reaction in, yes.}]]

“This is supposed to let me remake the world.”

[[{It never goes right.}]]

He thought about that. About the things that [̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭ had to remind him of, time and time again. The hunger. The fear. The unsurety. “I guess maybe it hasn’t, so far. But I’m going to make it go right.”

[[{That’s what they all say}]], :Solumnus: says. [[{When it ever goes right, maybe I’ll believe you.}]]

He sighed again. “Solumnus--”

[[{You consistently mispronounce my name. You’re missing the entire internal resonance.}]]

“I can’t  _ hear  _ that.”

[[{Then try}  **listening,** {instead of just hearing.}]]

“I don’t know what you mean.”

[[{Sometimes I forget how lost you really are}]], :Solumnus: says. [[{How severed from yourselves.}  **Listen** {to your metals and not just with your audials.}]]

“I don’t  _ understand,  _ Solumnus!”

**[[** **_Then fucking learn._ ** **]]**

The words were an invective, they were angry, they were implacable, they were needle thin sharp pieces of audible ice slamming directly into his audial sensors; he clapped his hands over his ears and doubled over in sightless agony for a moment. “Would you  _ stop _ doing that?”

[[{No.}]]

“Sometimes I really hate you,” he said. 

* * *

 

_ Dying divines  _

_ a bitter will still empowers, but wont fill the void _

_ Blind by design,  _

_ another stellar potential view has been destroyed _

 - Taproot (of unknown origin)

* * *

 

<I have been waiting>, said the heavy voice that belled up, slow and inexorable, from the ground beneath him. Its words seemed to echo, a moving whisper, just a shade different from what it had said. <I have been waiting for you a long time. [She] told me when she found you.> << _ My hero, my champion, found you, found you _ .>>

“Who are you?” he asked. His voice sounded thin and reedy after the massive, creaking voice that he'd just heard in his head and out of it, resonating like the metal in his armor after he’d been hit too hard at the right angle. 

<I am the one who waits,> _< <waiting waiting so long>>, _the voice said sadly. <And I have been waiting a long time.> << _So long, so long_. >>

“I have met someone who was [[̘I͜t̠̟͙̲̬̱]̥̲̦̲̭,” he said. “And I have met :Solumnus:. What are you called?”

<I am called on to help, when help is needed, and to fix, when a fix is needed.> _ <<When I am needed, only when needed.>> _

“I mean...like a designation? A  **[Name]** , to copy :Solumnus:’s way of putting it?”

<Ah, a **_Ņ̹̜̥ͧ̄͋̊͟a͓̻͕̝̞̗̫̔̽ͤ̎̄̅̚m̴͉̥̱̥̦͔̫̂̀̄̇̆ͭ̍̓eͣ҉̟̥̜̰̳_** , > said the voice. <I fear you would not be able to pronounce it. I am--

And then the voice spat out a jumbled piece of static that was so unutterably incomprehensible that it nearly gave him a processorache just to listen to. 

\--but you can call me Epistemus.> _ <<The name was lost the mech was lost but I remain.>> _

“That works,” he said.

**< I am pleased.>**

This one had no echo, and he was abruptly startled by that. ‘“I’ve come to change things.”

**< Things never change here. I have seen.>**

“I will _make_ them change,” he said.

* * *

 

_ The disaster is beyond the pale. _

_ Improper disaster, what have you done?  _

_ It is dark, disaster. _

_ What a long way there is to go. _

 - Lisa Olstein (of Alpha Centauri)

* * *

 

“What is this?” he asked in the dead, still air of the place where nothing moved. Sapphire and diamond and emerald dust coated every surface. Gold flaked from the walls. Silver fell in disused cascades along the walls where it had oxidized through the thin coating of gold. Jewels embedded in the walls were dull and lackluster in the half light of his optics.

**· This is the Center ·** said a Voice.

“What do I do?”

**· You use the Star · You forge · You create · You change ·**

“Who are you? What do I call you?”

**· I am the Vector · I am the Center · I am the Conduit for What Is To Come · I will be the First and Last of us · · · I am Primus ·**

There was a brief, slightly awkward pause as he tried to make heads or tails out of that.

**· what is** **_your_ ** **Name? ·**

He stopped short, an electric tingle of uneasy surprise crawling down his backstrut. “Not one of you have asked me that yet.”

**· I am not one of Them ·**

“I suppose not,” he said, continuing onwards through the garish, decaying hall.

**· I am not like They are ·** Primus repeated.  **· I still Remember · · · they Know · but I Remember ·**

“Remember...what?”

**·** **Everything ·** Primus said sadly. There was a weight in the word that suggested untold horrors, and it made him shake in half-felt pain.

“You said you were older than the others, didn’t you?” he asked, trying to change the subject.

**· Age is irrelevant ·**

**· But yes ·**

**· I am older ·**

“That’s interesting,” he said, squinting down the hall. He could see a pure red glow of energy revealing itself. Every step got hotter and hotter. The walls were bare of gold, now; instead the thin, soft metal lay in strips along the floor, as though it had melted there.

On a whim, he bent down to touch it. The metal was half-liquid to the touch.

“Will doing this kill me?”

**· It will change you.·**

“That doesn’t mean it won’t kill me.”

**· It doesn’t mean that it will. ·**

He swallowed the shiver of unease at the idea, striding forwards once more. It got hotter and hotter. The plating on his armor started to look odd out of the corners of his eyes.

He strode further. His fingers began to melt.

He strode further. No turning back now. He came to a room. He opened it.

**· This is the Center,·** Primus said, unnecessarily. He recognized it as soon as he saw it.

There was a star in a cage.

**· What did you say your Name was, again?·** Primus asked.

He smiled with the determined calm of someone who looked their death in the eye and decided it was the only choice, steeling himself. He knew what he had to do. He opened the door to the cage, feeling the peculiar lack of feeling that was caused by the pure heat of the inferno vaporizing layers of his armor from where he stood next to it. He didn’t want to think about standing inside it. 

“My name…is Adaptus.”

He stepped into the star, and the world changed.

* * *

 

_ I arrive, brother, for these wretched funeral rites _

_ so that I might present you with the last tribute of death _

_ and speak in vain to silent ash _

 - Catullus (of Praetora)

* * *

 

_Who am I?_  he asked as he emerged from the ball of light and heat and roiling flames that were all he Knew. 

There was a heavy silence for a moment. 

**· Your Name is Adaptus·** a voice that he Knew belonged to someone called Primus said.  **· Welcome home·**


End file.
